What OTAs really cost
How Much Does Expedia Charge Hotels?
Expedia does not list one standard rate on its public partner pages. Your commission is set in your agreement with Expedia Group. Third-party guides put Expedia Group's typical rate at about 18% to 22%, within a wider 15% to 30% range across booking sites. Paid tools such as Accelerator add to it.
This guide is for owners and managers of independent US hotels. Expedia Group is one of the main booking sites US hotels list on, and its commission is harder to pin down because Expedia does not publish a rate card. Facts about Expedia Group's tools come from its own partner site. Typical rates come from third-party guides, and we say so.
What does Expedia Group's commission pay for?
Expedia Group runs several booking brands, including Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo, Orbitz, Travelocity and Hotwire, all shown on its own home page. It also says it works with over 70,000 B2B partner businesses worldwide (from its partner site). Which of these brands and partners show your hotel depends on your agreement, so check Partner Central.
So the commission pays for reach, and that can be real value. The useful question is not only whether to be listed but what each booking costs you.
What percentage does Expedia charge?
The Expedia partner pages we reviewed do not list a standard rate. Your rate is set in your agreement. For a ballpark, BookingWhizz's guide puts Expedia Group at 18% to 22% across its brands, and Cloudbeds' commission guide reports a range of 15% to 30% or more across booking sites, depending on the platform, market and negotiating leverage.
Those are third-party figures, so treat them as ballparks. Check your agreement and Expedia Partner Central for your own percentage, and ask Expedia Group if the two do not match.
Why can Expedia's cost go unnoticed?
Under the merchant model, the guest pays the booking site, and the booking site sends the hotel the room rate minus its commission. Cindy Estis Green, CEO of hotel analytics firm Kalibri Labs, gave this example in a 2016 interview with PhocusWire: a guest pays Expedia $100, Expedia sends the hotel $80, and the $20 never shows up as a bill. Because nobody writes a check, it can be missed in budgets.
Take ten recent Expedia bookings. Compare what each guest paid with what you received. The gap, plus any Accelerator or promotion cost, is your real cost per booking.
What is Expedia Accelerator, and what does it cost?
Accelerator is Expedia Group's pay-per-stay visibility tool. You choose the dates and the extra compensation you will pay. You pay only when a traveler books and stays, so there is no upfront cost, and you can start, stop or change it at any time. Expedia says it increases your visibility without a discount, and that a preview tool shows how different amounts can affect your position in search results before you commit.
Expedia suggests using it on dates when your occupancy is low, such as off-season or midweek. Here is what it can add, using an illustrative hotel:
| Item | Without Accelerator | With Accelerator |
|---|---|---|
| Base commission (assumed) | 18% | 18% |
| Accelerator compensation (assumed) | 0 points | 4 points |
| Total on $30,000 of boosted stays | $5,400 | $6,600 |
Illustrative. Your base rate and the compensation you choose will differ.
Expedia's own examples of Accelerator results measure search impressions and page views. One hotel saw a 275% increase, another an 82% increase in page views. Those are views, so compare net room nights and total cost before and after you boost.
What else adds to the cost of an Expedia booking?
Commission is only part of it. Cloudbeds' guide lists further costs on booking-site bookings: commission on upsells such as breakfast and parking, tax treatment, channel manager fees, and sponsored placements. It also reports that about 22% of OTA bookings are cancelled, against about 11% of direct bookings. Each cancelled room has to be resold, or it stays empty. Our guide to the real cost of an OTA booking adds these up.
How does Expedia compare with Booking.com?
| Item | Booking.com | Expedia Group |
|---|---|---|
| How the rate is set | Your agreement, by country and property type | Your agreement with Expedia Group |
| Typical rate (third-party) | About 15% to 17% | About 18% to 22% |
| Paid visibility | Preferred Partner (small commission increase), Visibility Booster (rate you choose) | Accelerator (extra compensation you choose, paid only on stays) |
| Where to check your rate | Agreement and the Finance tab in the Extranet | Agreement and Partner Central |
Typical rates are from BookingWhizz and are third-party estimates for independent hotels.
For the Booking.com side in detail, read how much Booking.com charges hotels. To see what moving some bookings to your own website would save, try the savings calculator.
MarginStay helps independent hotels bring in direct bookings, so we have a stake in this topic. Facts about Accelerator come from Expedia Group's own partner site. Averages and ranges are labeled as third-party.
Expedia commission: quick answers
What is Expedia's commission rate for hotels?
Expedia does not list one standard rate on its public partner pages. Your rate is set in your agreement with Expedia Group. Third-party guides report about 18% to 22% as typical, within a range of 15% to 30% across booking sites. Check your agreement and Partner Central for your exact figure.
Does Hotels.com charge a different commission?
Hotels.com is one of Expedia Group's brands. Expedia Group does not publish a rate for each brand on its public partner pages. One third-party guide, BookingWhizz, puts Expedia Group at 18% to 22% across its brands, including Hotels.com. Your own rate is in your agreement, so check Partner Central or ask Expedia Group instead of assuming.
What is Expedia Accelerator?
Accelerator is Expedia Group's pay-per-stay visibility tool. You choose the dates and the extra compensation, and you pay only when a traveler books and stays. There is no upfront cost, and you can start, stop or change it at any time. It increases your visibility without offering a discount.
Do I have to use Accelerator?
No. It is optional. Expedia says you can start, stop and adjust an Accelerator at any time. Use the preview tool to see how different amounts can affect your position in search results before you commit, and compare net room nights afterward.
How can I tell what Expedia really costs me?
Compare what guests paid with what you received on a sample of bookings, add any Accelerator or promotion costs, and divide the total by the booking value. Under the merchant model the commission is taken from your payment, so it may never appear as a separate bill.
See what your booking-site costs add up to
Put your monthly booking-site bookings and commission into our calculator, and see what a lower cost per booking is worth.
Sources
- Expedia Group: Accelerator, maximize hotel bookings when you need them most
- Expedia Group partner site
- Expedia Group: home page, showing its travel brands
- Cloudbeds: A guide to OTA commission rates
- BookingWhizz: The true cost of OTA commissions
- PhocusWire: Kalibri Labs points hotels toward the true cost of guest acquisition (2016)